The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Heuchera plant botanically known as Heuchera×hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Carnival Watermelon’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Elburn, Ill. during May 2009. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Heuchera cultivars with unique foliage coloration and mounded growth habit.
The new Heuchera cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Heuchera×hybrida breeding selection coded 222-4, not patented, characterized by its dark purple and silver colored foliage, white-colored flowers, and moderately vigorous, mounded growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Heuchera×hybrida breeding selection coded 222-9, not patented, characterized by its dark brownish-purple and silver colored foliage, light pink-colored flowers, and moderately vigorous, compact-mounded growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during March 2010 in a controlled environment in Elburn, Ill.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by in vitro propagation since March 2010 in West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.